I have a dumb question.Why did locomotives need to use the Wooten Firebox to burn anthracite? Why wouldn't a Belpaire or another work?

The Wooten Firebox was not designed to burn anthracite but rather anthracite culm. John Wooten, Superintendent for Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (later the Reading) designed the firebox to burn culm as a cheap and plentiful source of fuel for their locomotives. It was first used on the camelback locomotives.

I knew about the camelbacks andthe Reading, but not why. Thanks for the info! Didn't the Pennsy experiment with Wotten fireboxes? Why would you need a special firebox for culm?

Too much air flow will blow culm right out the stack, Wooten's design corrected that. You can burn high-grade anthracite in any locomotive but you need to have the correct grate design. Bituminous is a far more cheaper fuel than anthracite and that's why railroads preferred it as a fuel source.

The common misconception with the Wootten Firebox is that it was exclusively designed to burn only pure anthracite, when in fact, it was designed to burn culm, the lowest quality, highest rock content, and unfit for market (otherwise waste), form of anthracite.

why wouldn't the Belpare work? Were the Wotten's hand-bombers, or did they have automatic stokers?

Again, a Belpaire will operate on high-grade anthracite and even coke for that matter. High-grade anthracite is very, very, very expensive compared to bituminous. The railroads, being a business, would use the fuel most cost effective for their operations. It all boils down to keeping the shareholders happy. If you lower operating costs by using a cheaper fuel source, the result is a higher net income, which increases the stock price and dividend yield for the shareholders.

Damn. And the fireman had to hand fire them! They definately were real men! I mean, think of it. You are exposed at the back of a locomotive, with only a small roof to keep the rain and snow off of you, with no side rails to keep you from falling off of the locomotive. And to top it all off, you are bouncing around at 50 mph. I don't envy those guys.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum